A blog by Timothy J. Hammons

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Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops recently stepped in it by saying the SEC really wasn’t that great of a conference even though it has produced the National Champion the last seven years. Here is what the infinitely wise coach said:

Listen, they’ve had the best team in college football, meaning they’ve won the national championship. That doesn’t mean everything else is always the best.

So they’ve had the best team in college football. They haven’t had the whole conference. Because, again, half of ’em haven’t done much at all. I’m just asking you. You tell me.

Gary Varvel nails the gun law debate with the above illustration. The Liberal Left’s answer to everything is “more laws.” In doing so, they refuse to accept the reality that more laws will make no difference at all when it comes to crime in the world. It just means that the criminals will break more laws, but nothing will be done to curb violence because, as we backwards types who are Christians understand, the law is powerless to change the human heart. The only thing that works with criminals is brute force. Thereby the best thing for our society is a well-armed citizenry so that we can protect ourselves and the innocent in society. Our founding fathers understood that principal and is one of the many reasons they gave us the Second Amendment.

Apparently a Texas legislator has filed a bill in the house that would require Texas A&M and the t.u. longhorns to play football every year. If you will recall, the t-sips opted out of the rivalry after A&M bolted the Big 12 for the SEC because A&M was tired of the bully tactics of the t-sips. In a snit, the t-sips refused to play A&M any longer, even though A&M was ready to keep the rivalry alive.

Today is the day that Texas A&M University becomes an official member of the Southeastern Conference! A&M is no longer a member of the Big 12, and is moving forward in joining the best athletic conference in the country, the SEC.

I can’t tell you how glad I am that this is taking place. I know it will be a challenge for the athletic program at A&M, but it sure beats sticking around in a conference that was run by the evil-burnt-orange empire known as t.u. I don’t care that we won’t be playing them any longer. That is fine with me. A&M has a much greater challenge in playing teams like Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Alabama, Ole’ Miss, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Florida and host of other fine programs. It makes the season a lot more exciting and we don’t have to worry about our non-conference schedule being tough enough. In fact, Sports Nations has pointed out that A&M will have the toughest schedule in the country from late September to mid-November. That gets me excited.

Am I sad that A&M has left the Big 12? Not a bit. It was good while it lasted, but I’m glad its over. Texas A&M, welcome to the Southeastern Conference!

Watch both videos below. They will get your blood going! Gig ‘Em Aggies

I know we are only into early June, but I am looking forward to some Texas Aggie football in the fall. In view of that, I discovered the following video that has been around for a while, but new to me. It’s entitled the Day the Big 12 Died and is put to the tune of American Pie by Don McClean. If you know American Pie and SEC/Big 12 football at all, you will love all the references to both. Enjoy.

Also, Mike Tag has a great piece on the fact that Deloss Dodds, the athletic director for t.u., “can’t quit” Texas A&M. Ever since A&M up and bolted the Big 12 for the SEC, Dodds is acting like a spurned lover. He has to slam the SEC and A&M every chance he gets. It really makes me laugh. Dodds and the t-sips thought they ruled the roost for so long and to have A&M up and leave has this screaming like a brokenhearted school girl.

Mike writes:

Dodds cannot let it go. He simply cannot quit A&M. It is humorous to watch a school that for years has claimed that they were above a rivalry with A&M, try to get over the fact that the Aggies simply do not care about them anymore.

A&M coaches, players and fans are busy trying to figure out how they are going to beat LSU and Alabama on the field. Meanwhile the powers that be at Texas are acting like a lover scorned. A&M went and found a hotter, richer bride in the SEC and now Texas is busy trying to convince everyone that they never loved A&M in the first place.

According to Beergut at I Am the 12th Man, the Aggies should announce today or tomorrow that the move to the SEC is has been approved by the presidents of the SEC schools. Beergut writes:

I received a text message yesterday afternoon saying A&M submitted their request to join the SEC today. I received another text Tuesday evening saying SEC presidents have voted unanimously to accept A&M into the conference. The FWST is reporting that we are going to announce our move today.

He obviously has inside sources. This is good because the Big 12-2 is going to fall apart. Oklahoma and OSU are looking to join the Pac 10. With the lousy way Dan Beebe has fought to save the conference (he hasn’t), the conference may stay together, but it will be made up of t.u. and schools like Stephen F. Austin and North Texas.

By the way, I don’t buy the arguments made by those who are associated with t.u. that the conference is falling apart because of A&M. It falls squarely on t.u.’s shoulders. They wanted to run things and own Dan Beebe. This is why Nebraska bailed last year and why the conference will fall apart. Spend some time at I Am the 12th Man and follow the links. There are enough people in the press who recognize the problem for what it is: t.u. wanted to run the show, get all the money, have all the attention. That’s fine. They can just do it alone. Let A&M, Nebraska, Oklahoma, etc. join conferences that see the need for conferences. If you want to be a one-man show, that’s fine. Just don’t make us support you in your endeavors and don’t blame us for the conference’s demise.

UPDATE: A&M ACCEPTED PENDING BAYLOR’S LAWSUITE

Apparently the SEC has accepted A&M, but that is pending a lawsuit from Baylor University. According to Foxsportssouth.com:

The Southeastern Conference voted unanimously to accept Texas A&M as its 13th member, according to a statement released Wednesday morning by the SEC office.

But the invitation is contingent on each Big 12 school waiving its right to litigation.

According to a letter from Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe dated Sept. 2 and released by the SEC office Wednesday, Beebe confirmed that no legal action against the SEC relating to Texas A&M’s departure would be taken provided the SEC publicly affirmed the Aggies’ admission by Sept. 8.

Dr. Bernie Machen, the University of Florida president who is chairman of the SEC presidents and chancellors, said in the SEC’s statement Wednesday that one of the Big 12 schools had withdrawn its previous consent and was considering legal action.

Various reports Wednesday identified that school as Baylor. The president of Baylor is Ken Starr, former independent counsel whose inquiry led to the impeachment of U.S. President Bill Clinton.

OK, Ken Starr went from being a hero to a… anti-hero in one act!

BTW, this story is developing faster than I can post it. I started on this post much earlier this morning, but since I’m having trouble with my browsers… I have not been able to publish it.

Last summer I predicted that the Big 12 would completely collapse after Nebraska and Colorado left for greener pastures. I had to admit that I was wrong in my prediction. But maybe I wasn’t. If you follow college football at all you know that Texas A&M took the next step in leaving the conference to head for the SEC. They formally issued a leader to the lemmings in the head office of the Big 12-2. This means that the Big 12-2 would become the Big 12-3 if they don’t find someone to replace A&M. Given that Dan Beebe of the Big 12 is proactive in only seeking to keep his job, the conference is doomed.

Now this just in: Oklahoma is toying with the idea of leaving the Big 12-2 as well.

University of Oklahoma president David Boren says multiple conferences have shown interest in the Sooners recently and he expects to decide whether to leave the Big 12 or not within the next three weeks.

Boren said Friday that Oklahoma is seeking stability in its conference relationship with ”partners that are both outstanding athletically and academically as well because a conference that’s strong is not only stable but it’s one in which there are multiple relationships, along with sports, between the university members.”

This cannot sit well with other members of the conference. The move to leave the sinking ship all starts with a simple desire to be a part of a ship that isn’t sinking. Once the desire is uttered, the forces behind that desire surface and that ship on the horizon looks so much more appealing than the one with the hole in under your feet.

I imagine that with this utterance by Boren, there will be those alumni who like the idea of bailing on a failing conference. Let’s face it, they can always play t.u. as a non-conference game. They did it for years before the formation of the Big 12, so it is nothing new for either group of fans.

If Oklahoma leaves, you can count on OSU leaving as well, since they are the little brother of that state joined at the hip known as the state legislature. There are just too many OSU alums in the state legislature that will insist upon OSU going wherever OU goes. If that happens, so goodbye to the Big 12. The rest of the teams will scurry off that ship like rats leaving the Titanic.

The Big 12 may survive. But it will be t.u., U of Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas State, North Texas, etc. And everyone will sit back and wonder if t.u. will ever lose their conference championship again.

It seems the talks about the Texas Aggies leaving the Big12-2 and joining the SEC is heating up. I Am the 12th Man is reporting that the Board of Regents has moved up their next meeting to this coming Monday. Given that the presidents of the SEC are meeting tomorrow, you have an accelerated timeline in bringing about A&M move into the SEC.

This means that this will be the last year that the Aggies play sports in the Big 12-2. I knew this would be the end result after last year’s contraction of the conference when Nebraska and Colorado left the conference. Back then, the action of the Big 12 was to save the Big 12. In other words, let’s just do some damage control and maybe it will stay together. Once they managed to keep the schools together for the Big 12-2, they sat back on their backsides and patted themselves on the back. What they should have been doing is trying to increase the size and viability of the conference, in order to make it better. They didn’t and this is the result, especially given that t.u. now has their own television network, given them an untenable advantage over the other teams in the conference.

Now that the conference is really on the verge of taking a back seat in the world of college football, t.u. is scrambling by trying to prevent A&M’s departure from the conference. They know how that will hurt the conference, and their standing in the world as well.

“If you can’t beat ’em. join em.” That is how the old saying goes. In tu’s case, the most appropriate motto is, “if you can’t beat ’em and are afraid to join ’em, conspire against them.” After months of ignoring Texas A&M’s move towards the SEC, now that the time of the move is upon us, tu is trying to block it. Last night word came out that tu has hired the PR/lobbying firm HillCo Partners to try to smear A&M and lobby members of the state legislature to block our move to the SEC. It is extremely humorous to me that the same people who claimed we never had an offer to join the SEC, the SEC would never want us by ourselves, tu tells us what to do etc, is not doing everything in their power to keep us from joining this conference that supposedly did not want us.

t.u. hasn’t been honest in quite some time. One of their more recent ventures into dishonesty was their claim by their president that they would not be airing high-school football games on their new television network. By doing so, this would give them an unfair advantage in the recruiting process, by airing those games where potential recruits are playing. Their president said they would not do this, but later it was revealed, he was trying to do just that. The NCAA had to rule that the longhorn network could not air high school games, despite the fact that ESPN and t.u. plan on ignoring the ruling.

As for the move itself, I am glad. It will make A&M a better team in the long run. There may be an initial shock in the first year or so, but once the recruiting improves with the prospect of players playing in the best conference in the country, so too will A&M’s team. All you have to do is tell them that they will be playing teams like LSU, Alabama, Auburn, Florida, etc., and that the last 5 National Championships have come from the SEC, and they will want to play at Kyle Field on a regular basis.

The other aspect is that we are ultimately telling t.u. we are not longer playing the roll of little brother. We’re moving out of the house and heading elsewhere to make our fortunes. Sometimes that is best. I’m not sure if A&M and t.u. will play on a regular basis after this. But that really doesn’t bother me since t.u. isn’t that good right now. Gig ‘Em Aggies! Beat the hell outta of the SEC!

Karen Swallow Prior has a funny piece on Christian cliches including the one above. Apparently she has a pastor or knows someone who likes to say such things, which in her mind, is just a bit too much information. She writes:

smokin’ hot, as in, “I just wanna love on these precious kids and come alongside them as we do life together and then go home to my smokin’ hot bride.” To me, calling one’s wife bride on any day after the honeymoon betrays a rather silly insistence that she is into perpetuity that sweet, young, virginal thing once greeted at the altar — or worse, a tacit acknowledgement that she’s not (wink, wink), so let’s just make like she is. Smokin’ hot, on the other hand, just sounds like someone trying a bit too hard to convince himself.

I think if I actually heard a pastor say this from the pulpit, I would have to get up and leave shortly after I barfed in the pew. For me, it’s a question of being faithful to the call to preach and teach. Do we really need to know that you think your wife is smokin’ hot… for you to preach God’s word? Just preach God’s word.

She also deals with cliches such as “doing ministry” “love on” as in, “we just need to love on these kids,” “missional” “being authentic” and other such trivial statements in the church. I also appreciated her point concerning the phrase “a real heart for God.” She points out that for some reason, it’s bad to have “a real mind for God” in our day in age.

“Just” in prayers…. which is one of my pet peeves, was given the thumbs down as well:

– just. This is a mild but pervasive example that peppers many prayers and is intended, I suppose, to express humility. There’s nothing wrong with this unless constant use causes believers to forego coming to God boldly.

Gina, in the comments section, added her two cents worth in giving us the Lord’s prayer with “just” appropriately added:

Our Father, who just art in heaven, hallowed just be thy name. Thy Kingdom just come, thy will just be done, on earth just as it is in heaven. Just give us this day our daily bread. And just forgive us our trespasses,
as we just forgive those who just trespass against us.
And just lead us not into temptation, but just deliver us from evil. For thine is just the kingdom, just the power and just the glory, for ever and just ever.
Just Amen.

I wonder if this tendency to use this word comes from that hymn, Just as I am?

As usual about this time of year, my thoughts begin to turn to college football and the Texas Aggies. I would say that I also look forward to the NFL season as well, but I don’t. I’m too busy on Sunday to watch the games, and find most of them quite boring.

This being the case, it has been interesting reading about the possible realignment of the Texas Aggies with the SEC. This started last year when the Big 12-2 almost fell apart. It continues this year because of the texas longhorn network, a joint venture between t.u. and ESPN. t.u. has their own television network and they want to show high school football games of teams where they have potential recruits. This doesn’t sit well with A&M or OU, both of which have started to eye a move to the SEC, which would leave t.u. in a really bad conference. The mere threat of this has caused the people at t.u. to back off their hopes of showing high-school games on their network.

I hope that no matter what happens with the longhorn network, that A&M does end up in the SEC. It would be much better for A&M in the long run than to remain in a conference that is really held together by A&M, t.u., and the Sooners. Since my hopeful move back to Texas has fallen through, it has a greater appeal since I may be remaining in the SEC area. It would be fun to drive to places like Oxford and Tuscaloosa to watch the Aggies play football. Yes, I know that the Aggies would struggle in the SEC the first couple of years. Their record against SEC teams here of late has been dismal. But in the long run, they would improve as more players from Texas would want to play against teams like LSU, the Crimson Tide and the Florida Gators. That is much more appealing than playing the likes of the Kansas Wildcats.

So hear is to A&M football moving to the SEC and knowing that the season is only 6 weeks away. Check out beergut’s thoughts on realignment at I Am the 12th Man. Remember, beergut is the official non-official expert on Texas A&M football.

What a sweet game. I admit that I was on the edge of the couch for most of the night, and unable to sit down during the 4th quarter as the No. 19 Texas Aggies beat the No. 8 Nebraska Cornhuskers 9-6 in a defensive struggle for the ages. I have to say that the fans really came through for the Aggies as they made so much noise that the Cornhuskers were getting penalized over and over again. It even got to the point that Bo Pelini, the hothead coach for Nebraska, got a penalty thrown on him he was so mad.

But alas, cooler heads prevailed as Pelini’s former head coach, Mike Sherman, coolie guided the Aggies to the victory. What an exciting game. Hopefully, the Aggies will continue their winning ways and add another victory to their 5-game winning streak when they play the t-sips on Thursday. I’m so excited I can hardly contain myself. What a game.

Not only that, they are bound to bounce up in the polls again, and if they beat t.u., get a really good bowl bid to finish out the season. It’s hard to believe they have turned around so much after their early 3 game skid in the middle of the season. Gig ’em Aggies!

Special thanks go to Les and Debbie as they watched the game with me. Also to my lovely wife who made a wonderful dessert and fresh, homemade cornbread to go with my homemade chili. Made for a perfect evening. Now, I just need to double that chili recipe because there never seems to be much left afterward.